The present invention relates, in general, to separation systems and, in particular, to a new and useful seal joint for a separator for separating a multiple phase mixture into separate vapor and liquid phases utilizing pairs of centrifugal cyclone separators.
Most of the known gas/oil separation systems rely on natural or gravity separation which requires large vessels to achieve the desired separation performance. When natural separation is used in a relatively small vessel, the throughput or vapor flux of that system is significantly smaller when compared to other systems not relying on natural separation. An example of a system which uses natural separation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,794.
One known separation system is disclosed in U.K. Patent Application No. GB 2 203 062A and uses centrifugal separation for a primary separation stage and inertial separation (i.e., scrubbers) for a second stage of separation. Although this system most likely has higher separation capacities than a system relying on natural separation, it most likely has less capacity when compared to a system that could employ centrifugal separation for both stages.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/337,359, filed Nov. 10, 1994, abandoned in favor of Continuation U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/695,947, filed Aug. 13, 1996, the text of which are hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein, to disclose an improved separator which uses centrifugal separation modules for the primary and secondary stages of separation.